a fairground life (in the park)

Tuesday we went over to see the layout of Coatbridge. The fair has been moved into the park as the carpark previously used is not available. There is a good path down into the park but we would have to leave this to get onto our grassed plots. The lessee asked everyone to bring sheets of ply to minimise the risk of damaging the park. No doubt this was essential as a council official was present taking photos of the area before we even pulled on. So Wednesday at 6am "r" and I set sail with the Dropzone and skydiver. We were onsite at 6:30am and located our plots. Then strategically placing our sheets of ply we attempted to site the skydiver. We got it almost lined up and moving the ply several times we did get it set for 7:15am with zero damage. Next we set the DZ, this was a bit easier as it was closer to the path, we just reversed it onto the plot and only needed 2 sheets of ply to do this. At 8:10am we returned to the house for breakfast before taking over the Hobby caravan. At this we received a call asking if we could give a tow to the lessee who had stuck his dodgem truck. So a little after 10am we were back and towed him onto the path. "r" give him stick for not having ply under his lorry wheels, a classic case of "do as I say not as I do"! We started to build up and for 4pm we had all the kit setup and tried out. We erected part of the security fence around our plots before returning home for tea. The next day we opened at 6:30pm and the DZ would not go, for 2 hours we tried all the usual tricks with no avail, then we flicked all the contactors by hand and tried it again. This time it went, so I guess it was a sticky solenoid (I hope it works OK tonight). At that the rain came down in torrents and 30mins later we were closed. I've been going to Coatbridge on and off all my life. I even went to school here. I can recall 7 fairground sites around the town and in all those last 40 years this is only the second time I have operated on grass, every other fair was on waste land with boulders under foot. I can remember my mother cursing the black dust covering everything including the carpet. It does seem more pleasant being in the park, hopefully it will encourage more families out. There was a debut here for a young showman who opened his recently acquired rock o plane. It is very tidy with plenty of lighting, I'm sure it will serve him well. The pict is a small section of the fair.